Ask any hiring manager what their biggest recruitment problem is and they will usually say they cannot find good people. Look at the data and a different answer shows up: they can find them. They just take so long to decide that somebody else hires them first.

Half of finance and accounting leaders now say it takes 60 days or more to fill a role. That number is not a shortage of candidates. That is a process problem, and it is costing employers across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia far more than they realise.

What the numbers actually say

The Personiv CFO Pulse Survey, which polled more than 250 finance and accounting leaders, found that 87% now acknowledge a talent shortage in their function. In 2020 that figure was 63%. In the same period, the average number of open finance and accounting positions per organisation climbed from two to five.

So vacancies have more than doubled while the time to close each one has stretched past two months. Engineering teams tell us the same story. Structural, civil, mechanical and MEP roles that used to close in four weeks now routinely run to eight or ten, particularly where a professional licence is involved.

The temptation is to read this as a supply problem and wait for the market to loosen. It will not. In accounting, the pipeline into CPA licensure has been constrained for years by the 150-hour education rule, and while states such as Connecticut have begun removing it, the people who were discouraged in 2021 are not going to appear in the hiring pool in 2026. In engineering, the retirement curve is doing the same job quietly.

Why 60 days costs more than you think

Most employers price a vacancy as a saving. The salary is not being paid, so the budget looks healthy. That is the wrong way round.

A vacant senior finance role means month-end close runs late, or runs on the goodwill of someone already at capacity. A vacant engineering role means a project milestone slips, or a bid does not go out. Neither shows up as a line item, which is exactly why they go unmanaged. The median salary for accountants and auditors in the US sits around $83,680, with experienced professionals well into six figures. A role left open for ten weeks is not saving you ten weeks of that salary. It is quietly spending several times it in delay, overtime and risk.

Then there is the attrition cost. When a team carries a gap for two months, the people covering it start taking calls from recruiters. The vacancy that was one role becomes two.

Where the 60 days actually goes

When we audit a slow hiring process, the delay is almost never in sourcing. It is in these four places:

  • The brief is vague. "A strong finance manager" is not a brief. Without a clear specification of what the person must have on day one versus what can be learned, every shortlist gets rejected for a different reason and the search restarts.
  • Too many interview stages. Five rounds across six weeks does not reduce hiring risk in any measurable way. It reduces your shortlist, because the best candidates accept something else in week three.
  • Scheduling drift. A week lost between first and second interview is a week your competitor is using. Good candidates in engineering, finance and tax are typically in an active process with two or three employers at once.
  • Slow offers. The gap between "we want them" and a signed contract is where most losses happen. Every day in that gap is a day for a counter-offer to land.

What actually shortens time to hire

None of the fixes are complicated. They are just unpopular, because each one requires somebody to commit earlier than feels comfortable.

1. Decide the salary before you advertise, not after

If the range is not agreed internally before the role goes live, you will discover the gap at offer stage, which is the most expensive possible moment. Agree it first, and be honest about it in the conversation.

2. Cut to two interview stages

Two well-structured stages with the right people in the room beat five unstructured ones. If a third is genuinely needed, run it within the same week.

3. Book the slots in advance

Block interview time in the diary for the whole search before the first CV arrives. This single change removes more delay than anything else on this list.

4. Prepare for the counter-offer before it happens

If you are hiring a licensed engineer or a qualified accountant from a competitor, assume their employer will counter. Have the conversation about it during the process, not after the resignation letter goes in.

5. Move at the speed of your best candidate, not your slowest approver

If a decision-maker is away for two weeks, nominate a deputy. The market does not pause for annual leave.

The four markets look different

Hiring the same role across our four markets is not the same exercise, and treating it as one is a common and expensive mistake.

In the United States, state licensure for professional engineers and CPA mobility rules mean a candidate who is perfect on paper may need weeks of administrative work before they can bill. Factor that into the start date rather than discovering it late.

In Canada, provincial regulation through the engineering associations and CPA provincial bodies adds a similar layer, and the bilingual requirement in Quebec narrows the pool considerably for some roles.

In the United Kingdom, notice periods are the dominant factor. Three months is standard at senior level, and six is not unusual. A UK hire needs planning a full quarter ahead of when you need the person at a desk.

In Australia, geography and visa sponsorship shape the search more than anything else. Roles outside the major cities almost always require relocation support to be competitive.

Where a specialist recruitment partner changes the arithmetic

There is a reason employers who use a specialist recruitment agency fill roles faster, and it is not that we have a secret list. It is that a specialist recruiter is already in conversation with the people you want before you have a vacancy.

The engineers and accountants who close a search quickly are rarely the ones applying to job adverts. They are employed, performing well, and open to a specific conversation about a specific role. Reaching them takes a relationship built over months, which is time nobody has once a resignation has landed on their desk.

At Nevrica we work across engineering recruitment, finance and accounting recruitment, tax recruitment and executive search in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia. Every candidate we put forward has been verified against your actual requirements before you see their name, which is what removes the shortlist-and-restart cycle that eats most of the 60 days.

Start with one number

If you take one thing from this, make it a measurement. Work out your real time to hire, from the day the role was approved to the day the contract was signed. Not from the day you advertised, which is the number most companies quote themselves and the reason the problem stays hidden.

If that number is over 60 days, you are not losing candidates to a talent shortage. You are losing them to your own calendar, and that is a far easier problem to fix.

Hiring in engineering, finance or tax? Tell us what you need and we will come back with a realistic timeline and a shortlist, not a pile of CVs.

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